2022 - Conservation Harvesting Plan for the herring fall fishery in Herring Fishing Areas 16A to 16G – Inshore Fleet (fall spawners component) - Revised

Revised on August 26, 2022 - This Conservation Harvesting Plan (CHP) presents the management measures for inshore herring licence holders.

New management measures for 2022

Mandatory logbook for Gulf Region harvesters

DFO is reminding harvesters from the Gulf Region of the implementation of a mandatory logbook (paper format) for the commercial and bait herring fisheries in 2022.

Gulf Region harvesters must obtain the Herring and Mackerel logbook - Fixed gear from a prequalified supplier and must refer to the conditions of licence for compliance requirements. The list of prequalified suppliers is available at the following link: Prequalified Logbook Suppliers

Quebec Region harvesters must continue to use the electronic logbook.

Fishing Gear Reporting System (or Lost Gear Reporting)

A new online system was launched in July 2021 to allow commercial harvesters to conveniently input lost and retrieved gear information from any smart electronic device. The system is able to capture information such as descriptions, cause of loss and location of the lost gear. Harvesters can create their account and begin reporting through the system at this website: Fishing Gear Reporting System

Discarding Waste

All commercial fisheries in Canada have a new condition of licence relating to the discharge of garbage from Canadian fishing vessels. The licence holder/operator is prohibited from discarding in Canadian fisheries waters from their vessel any time that may be harmful to fish or fish habitat. Refer to the Notice to Fish Harvesters sent on April 7, 2022 for further details: Commercial fishery requirements.

A summary of the management measures by Herring Fishing Areas (HFAs) is provided in Annex 1.

For further information on fishing requirements and restrictions, licence holders must refer to their respective conditions of license.

Conditions of license will be made available for participating harvesters in the National Online Licensing System (NOLS).

Other management measures

Any allocation overrun in a given year is reconciled against the following season allocation.

Herring Fishing Areas 16C & 16E

Group A (New Brunswick fishers) and Group B (Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia fishers) will begin the fall fishery with an allocation of 333 t. When this quota is reached, the remaining allocation will be divided equally between Group A and Group B. Any excess quota caught will be deducted from the total allocation remaining for both groups.

Fish harvesters from HFA 16E who have received their conditions of licence to participate in the summer fishery will not have access to the fall fishery.

Herring Fishing Area 17

Access to HFA 17 (northern portion of 4Vn) will be subject to guidelines under the Maritimes Region herring management plan.

Annex 1

2022 management measures of the fall herring fishery for the inshore fleet

  • 16A - Île Verte
    • Monitoring1:
      • CMP - 100%
      • DMP - 25%
      • E-log - mandatory
    • Allocations2: 18 t
    • Period: July 4 - December 31
    • Net3:
      • Mesh size: 63.5 mm min
      • Depth: 125 mesh
      • Length: 150 fathoms
    • Closures4: None
    • Trip Limit: one landing per day
  • 16B - Chaleurs Bay
    • Monitoring1 (NB):
      • DMP - 100%
      • Logbook - mandatory
    • Monitoring (QC):
      • CMP - 100%
      • DMP - 25%
      • E-log - mandatory
    • Allocations2: 5,267 t
    • Period: August 23 at 19:00 ADT - December 31
    • Net3:
      • Mesh size: 66.7 mm min
      • Depth: 125 mesh
      • Length: 125 fathoms
    • Closures4:
      • From Friday 13:00 to Sunday 19:00
      • Weekdays 13:00 to 19:00
    • Trip Limit: One landing per day, daily limit of 10,206 kg (22,500 lbs) or self-managed by industry
  • Small seiners
    • Monitoring1:
      • DMP - 100%
    • Allocations2: 157 t
    • Period: September 1 - December 31
    • Net3: N/A
    • Closures4: N/A
    • Trip Limit: N/A
  • 16 C&E - Escuminac, western PEI and northern NS
    • Monitoring1:
      • DMP - 100%
      • Logbook - mandatory
    • Allocations2:
      • 2,218 t
      • Competitive fishery (333 t) remaining tonnage equally divided to Group A and B
    • Period: August 28 - December 31
    • Net3:
      • Mesh size: 66.7 mm min
      • Depth: 125 mesh
      • Length: 150 fathoms
    • Closures4:
      • From Friday 11:00 to Sunday 19:00
      • Weekdays 11:00 to 19:00
    • Trip Limit: daily limit of 9,752 kg (21,500 lbs) or daily limit self-managed by industry (for Group A)
  • 16D - Magdalen Islands
    • Monitoring1:
      • CMP - 100%
      • DMP - 25%
      • E-log - mandatory
    • Allocations2: 75 t
    • Period: July 4 - December 31
    • Net3:
      • Mesh size: 66.7 mm min
      • Depth: 125 mesh
      • Length: 150 fathoms
    • Closures4: none
    • Trip Limit: none
  • 16F - Pictou
    • Monitoring1:
      • DMP - 100%
      • Logbook - mandatory
    • Allocations2: 2,279 t
    • Period: September 11 to October 7
    • Net3:
      • Mesh size: 66.7 mm min
      • Depth: 125 mesh
      • Length: 100 fathoms
    • Closure4:
      • from Friday 12:00 to Sunday 18:00
      • weekdays 12:00 to 18:00
    • Trip Limit: one landing per day, with daily limit self-managed by industry
  • 16G - North side (see chart 1)
    • Monitoring1:
      • DMP - 100%
      • Logbook - mandatory
    • Allocations2: 1,515 t divided as follows:
      • 20% North side (303 t)
      • 80% South side (1,212 t)
    • Period: September 4 - October 7
    • Net3:
      • Mesh size: 66.7 mm min
      • Depth: 125 mesh
      • Length: 150 fathoms
    • Closures4: 15:00 Friday to 15:00 Sunday
    • Trip Limit: maximum of 2 landings per day with daily and weekly limit self-managed by industry
  • 16G - South side
    • Monitoring1:
      • DMP - 100%
      • Logbook - mandatory
    • Allocations2: 1,515 t divided as follow:
      • 20% North side (303 t)
      • 80% South side (1,212 t)
    • Period: September 4 - October 7
    • Net3:
      • Mesh size: 66.7 mm min
      • Depth: 100 mesh
      • Length: 150 fathoms
    • Closures4: 15:00 Friday to 15:00 Sunday
    • Trip Limit: maximum of 2 landings per day, with daily and weekly limit self-managed by industry
  1. DMP - dockside monitoring program / CMP - catch monitoring program.
  2. The allocations will be adjusted based on the summer fishery landings.
  3. Tagging of gillnets is required in all HFAs.
  4. Dates and times are based on Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT). No nets to remain in the water during the closures.

CHART 1

Northern part of HFA 16G

The Northern portion of HFA 16G defined as the waters enclosed by the coastline and rhumb lines (similar to straight lines drawn on a nautical chart) joining the following points in the order in which they are listed:

  1. 46° 26' 00'' N - 63° 15' 00'' W
  2. 46° 50' 00'' N - 62° 32' 00'' W
  3. 46° 56' 42'' N - 61° 30' 00'' W
  4. 46° 26' 55'' N - 61° 30' 00'' W
  5. 46° 26' 55'' N - 61° 58' 25'' W (EAST POINT)

Note: When the geographic boundary of an area is expressed in latitude and longitude, these point references are based on the geodesic system North American Datum 1927 (NAD27). The positions are expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds.

 

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